


Evil Gardening

by Avian248



Category: RWBY
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Family, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gardening, Gen, I don't even know anymore, Post-Volume 5, Recovery, Team MEH, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 11:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13974150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avian248/pseuds/Avian248
Summary: After the fight at Haven, Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury can't stay with Salem's faction. The three of them form an unlikely team-up and together, they learn to heal.





	Evil Gardening

Hazel shook his hands free of dirt and stood up, squinting as the sun beat down on his exposed face. He should have waited for a more cloudy day to work outside.

There was no helping it now. He was halfway done, he might as well finish.

Hazel picked up the hoe, and set about planting the bulbs.

It had been months.

He could almost feel the cool night air on his face as he ran from the doomed mission, evading the authorities. Over his shoulder he held the unconscious Emerald, sacrificing comfort for speed. Mercury was behind him, keeping up pretty well despite his own injuries. Hazel knew that he himself was probably badly hurt, but he continued pumping his aura into his semblance. He couldn’t afford to feel the pain of his wounds quite yet.

They had escaped by the skin of their noses that night, and it wasn’t until after they had put some distance between them and their pursuers that they had been able to talk.

“We can’t go back.” he said simply as he divided up the food portions, having already tended to his wounds. 

“Speak for yourself.” said Mercury, looking at him moodily as he took his part of the food, taking a bite out of the bread.

“Salem won’t tolerate failure.” Hazel pointed out. “And whatever you think about yourself, you’re nothing compared to her.” 

Mercury looked taken aback, and put his bread down from his mouth and held it in his lap, staring down at it.

Emerald looked at Hazel listlessly. She had been non-responsive since waking up. Clearly, she taking Cinder’s death hard.

He prodded her. “Here. Have some food.” 

She looked up at him, then at the food in his hand, staring at it a beat longer than normal. Then she took the food with a fast swipe of her hand, and turned away from him, quickly consuming the food.

After another few moments of silence, Hazel spoke again. “I know somewhere we can go and heal. After that, we can decide our next move.”

Neither Mercury nor Emerald voiced an objection, so he figured it was as good as an agreement.

On the road to his safe haven, he started noticing little things about his traveling companions.

“What are you doing?” he asked Mercury loudly. The kid was leaning over some dust cartridges, his movements obscured by his body.

At Hazel's loud admonishment, Mercury jumped and flinched, all in one painful-looking movement. 

For just a moment, terror was written all over his face, and his mouth formed a word.

 “Da-”

Then Mercury closed his mouth and schooled his features into something resembling a casual expression.

“Don’t do that! I’m mixing some dust configurations.” he said, sounding nonchalant. But he was still very, very tense.

Hazel accepted it, and didn’t pry.

He also never raised his voice at Mercury again.

He found Emerald stoping herself from eating all of her food as she became more re-aquatinted with reality. He wondered where it went, until one night he observed her slipping it into her pouch from the corner of his eye. 

Saving it. Stockpiling it. 

He gave her extra food after that.

Neither of them ever said anything, but their quiet gratitude was enough.

Traveling with them was… different. Before, he only ever had his sister. Then, she was gone.

With Salem, he had never really formed any attachments to his “colleagues”. 

But he found himself feeling _something_ for the kids. Perhaps some leftover instinct from not protecting his sister? He tried his best to shove it down, and forget about it. 

Then, they got to the safe house.

It was a tucked away little hideout. He had bought it while on a mission on a whim, quietly independent from Salem. 

It had just looked so... _peaceful_ , a light brown house with a darker brown roof, all in one story. He hadn’t been able to resist. 

A last resort, only if the worst had happened.

He never imagined actually using it.

Once they arrived, turned on the water, and got into the dusty house, he delegated the kids to two of the rooms and claimed the master bedroom. After that, he made soup with some ingredients he had picked up when they had traveled through the sleepy town on their way in. 

They ate together, Mercury dismissively talking about how tiny the house was, and Emerald telling him off for being ungrateful.

Hazel smiled. When they had traveled with Cinder, he found their arguing annoying and unprofessional. Now, he was relived to see them bickering. It was a sign that they were recovering from the fight at Haven. 

After dinner, they retired for the night early, relived to be sleeping in an actual bed again.They said their goodnights, and went to sleep. 

The next couple of days blended together. They fixed up the house, giving it the cleaning it deserved, got more food from town, and rested. 

From what Hazel could tell, despite all of Mercury and Emerald’s complaining about being “bored” and feeling “horribly normal”, they sure did seem to be enjoying themselves.

Mercury took to sitting in a tree outside and reading. Emerald took to laying on the porch and napping. Sometimes they would sit together and watch TV inside. 

Hazel was knew with sad certainty that this was probably the most peaceful their lives had ever been.

He was one to talk about peace, though. This was probably the most relaxed he had been in years. 

It was nice to get away from the revenge plots and schemes, and just be with his thoughts. 

One day, watching Emerald and Mercury sparring lazily, he came to the realization that that he had grown to love it at this little house.

Over dinner that night, the three of them talked about the future. 

“I know that we sort of agreed that this was temporary.” Hazel began. He wasn’t sure how this proposal would be received, but he wanted to try. “But what if it wasn’t?”

“We just… stayed here?” asked Mercury, with anger blooming in his voice.

“Where else do we have to go?” Hazel asked him bleakly.

“But what about getting revenge?” asked Mercury, clenching his fork.

The statement didn’t surprise Hazel. Mercury was always one for hatred, battles and revenge. He was born and bred with fire coursing through his veins.

More bred than born, he knew. Not for the first time, Hazel cursed Marcus Black.

“The three of us aren’t strong enough to take down Ozpin’s merry little band. And it’s not like we can go back to Salem for help.” The admission of defeat felt bitter in his mouth.

“We could go out and get stronger, or we could hire people to help us… or… something!” suggested Mercury, standing with a start.

“They have the pure numbers advantage over us. And we don’t have any money to hire people.” said Hazel, gesturing to their surroundings.

Seeing Mercury opening up his mouth, he cut him off. “Also, even if we did get that money by stealing it or something, the people that we would hire wouldn’t be nearly as good as we would need them to be.” 

“This may be our only option.” said Emerald understandingly. Her eyes were downcast. “Cinder saved me. I want to avenge her. But…” she trailed off, and Hazel understood.

“It’s safest here for us here.” he said softly. Emerald was a survivor, after all. And she recognized a fool’s errand when she saw it.

“What reason do you have care about our safety?” asked Mercury angrily. “As you said, we’re useless to you! We can’t help you get revenge, why are you trying to protect us?” 

Hazel sighed. “You’re putting words in my mouth.” he said, pausing to gather his thoughts.

“You both may have done a lot of bad things, but are still kids, and frankly you are victims of circumstance. You both deserve the chance to be happy.” Hazel knew that there was a more personal answer, but he couldn’t say _that_ out loud.

Mercury looked at him with confusion, and slumped down in his chair, “Happy?” He said, his anger gone.

Hazel understood. For someone like Mercury raised in his sittuation, the idea of pure, undiluted happiness was a foreign concept.

Emerald looked at Hazel, her eyes widening. Suddenly, she stood. “I… I will stay with you. Here.”

Hazel nodded, pleased. 

“Why, Emerald?” Mercury said, looking somewhat vacant.

“Come on, Merc. Cinder is gone. He isn’t.” she said, and he nodded. 

Mercury took a deep breath. “Oh, what the hell. Let’s stay here.” 

Hazel was surprised. Frankly, he thought they’d take more convincing or not be convinced at all. But perhaps they understood what he was trying to convey. That despite everything, he wanted them safe with him. 

So, they fell into a routine. Doing house chores, sparing for fun, reading, relaxing, and hunting.

Hazel was… happy.

One night, they were going to bed after doing a puzzle. Mercury had initially called it “stupid and boring” but him and Emerald had gotten competitive, and when they got like that, there was no stopping them.

Hazel had learned that one the hard way.

“Goodnight.” he said as they parted ways in the hallway.

“Night.” said Emerald, going into her room.

“Night, Dad.” he heard Mercury say nonchalantly, walking into his room, leaving Hazel frozen in the stairway.

He blinked a couple of times, wondering if his hearing was going. But nope, he definitely heard that.

“What?” he asked the black hallway, the word escaping his lips.

He received no answer. 

After that initial incident, Emerald slipped up while they were hunting. 

“Hey Dad, come check this out!” she said distractedly when she had shot a deer.

He pretended that he hadn’t heard anything, and since she didn’t react, he assumed it was a slip of tongue. 

They both slipped up a couple more times in front of each other, and mercilessly teased each other whenever it happened.

But Hazel never said anything.

He didn’t trust himself to not tell them how strangely happy it made him.

“Hazel?” he heard from behind him. He looked up, blinking in the sun. It was Emerald, standing and looking at him unimpressed. 

“Really, flowers?” she continued.

“It’s relaxing.” he rumbled out.

She rolled her eyes, but picked up a shovel. “Where do you want me to dig holes?” she asked sulkily. 

He directed her to a different part of the space he had delegated as the garden. With company, Hazel’s thoughts of the past were kept at bay.

Mercury joined them after a bit, teasing them a little, then picking up a shovel himself. 

“What, if I don’t help out, then Patch’s Homeowners Association is gonna come hunt me down!” he said by way of explanation. 

Emerald “accidentally” tossed some dirt onto him, and Mercury made the “you wanna go?” gesture to her as they argued lightly.

Hazel smiled at their antics, and continued gardening. Soon, spring would come and these tulips would bloom. Maybe he would invite that blonde neighbor of his to come to dinner like he had been meaning to.

The man had lost his wife a while ago, leaving him a single dad to two children, according to what Hazel had heard in town.

Maybe he could pick up some parenting tips. 

Outside of this little island, a was was being raged for the fate of all of Remnant. A war that he could have been a part of. He could have traded in his hoe and dirt for Dust and blood.

He could have gotten his revenge, and let his sister rest in peace. He could have saved other children from Ozpin corrupting them in the future.

But Mercury would have become a heartless killer just like Marcus Black.

And Emerald would have sold her soul to avenge Cinder. 

They would have destroyed themselves.

Staying here in the sun, he can keep his little family of three safe. 

It’s a little bit selfish, he knows, to chose them. 

But in the back of his mind, hearing his kids bickering, he thinks that maybe, just maybe, this is what his sister would have wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> LOL Taiyang now has a bunch of former supervillians for neighbors. 
> 
> What is this? I don't even know. I just thought "Wow these people have a lot of issues that could be solved by coming together" so I wrote it. I know I should be working on my longfic, but like, I needed a break from that so I wrote this. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!


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